When F1 speedsters attracted 90,000 to scenic track

My personal favourite is British seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton of team Mercedes who should have made it eight but for an ill-considered technical decision

Sunday afternoons for the past few months have just not been the same for me. The Formula One Grand Prix spectacle has been in recess while the gallant young men in their racing machines were taking a well-earned break and the petrol-heads of the world have had to find something else on TV to occupy their minds.

But they ’ re back and from next week Sunday we ’ re OK until November.

My personal favourite is British seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton of team Mercedes who should have made it eight but for an ill-considered technical decision by the race director in the final race of 2021 which robbed him of certain victory and gave the race and world title to rival Max Verstappen.

But give the young Red Bull driver credit, he matched Lewis every step of the way and created breathtaking entertainment for us couch potatoes!

Want to know how much Hamilton earned last year – without bonuses? Hold on to your hat! In our money about R435 million! He has already surpassed footballer, David Beckham as Britain’s highest earning sportsperson of all time and what’s more, he took a salary cut of $10m for 2021!

So dads, forget about golf and tennis – get your “lightie” into motor racing and retire in luxury to Plett!

Motor racing on the telly is all very well but there’s nothing to beat the real thing. Those of you old enough will know that East London many years ago was the centre of motor racing in SA and hosted a number of Formula One events.

I clearly remember 1962, my first year in East London, when 90,000 of us packed the Grand Prix track to see Graham Hill win the world motor racing championship when he beat Bruce McLaren of New Zealand with South Africa’s Tony Maggs and Australia’s Jack Brabham taking the minor placings.

The late Jim Clark needed only a podium finish to claim the crown but blew up on lap 62. Stirling Moss, the great British driving ace, who had won in his Porsche on the same track the year before, was on hand to congratulate Hill.

As a matter of interest I still have Jim Clark’s autograph. I got it in that cinema in upper Oxford Street – for the life of me I cannot remember it’s name – two nights before the race.

As I remember, it was a blockbuster of a film and Jim was in the audience.

Heady stuff! You couldn ’ t get a room in East London that weekend for love nor money. The municipality had laid on special busses to the track on the west bank.

Even the railways put on a shuttle service to the track and back. Fans camped out all night and all available parking was taken up hours before the start.

Yes, East London was a proud part of the World Formula One scene between 1960 and 1965 which drew 80,000 to 90,000 people to the city each year.

You can just imagine the boost to the city’s economy that brought. It was a severe loss when the Grand Prix was awarded to Johannesburg’s Kyalami race track and then removed altogether from South Africa.

The result is that our once renowned race track in East London, while maintaining all of its original appeal and heritage, is vulnerable to vandalism and subject to incidents of illegal drag-racing etc on the main straight, which is also a public road.

However, a small band of motor racing enthusiasts has kept the sport alive over the years and to their credit the track has been maintained to a standard which has allowed major motor sport events to be held on a regular basis.

Formula One racing, alas, will probably never again take place in East London, but the East London Grand Prix Circuit Foundation and Border Motor Sport Club has obtained a long lease on the track.

The intention when I last heard, was to fence it off, refurbish the resources, resurface the track to a standard which will attract world class motor and motor cycle events and, listen to this, build a hotel and motoring museum.

“The infrastructure is here,” David Kirkman, a committee member of the Border Motor Sport Club, told me a few years ago, adding that there were very few race tracks in the world nestled in such a natural amphitheatre with the sea literally on the track’s edge, quality golf courses and accommodation close at hand together with a relaxed family atmosphere.

“I can guarantee the world’s best drivers would bust a gut to come here and a resurgence of interest in motor racing would be assured. What a package we could offer, it’ sa potential gold mine.”

One can only hope but in the meantime, c’mon Lewis, just one more let’s make it a record eight titles!